Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister Yoav Gallant Nov. 5, citing a lack of mutual trust. According to the Times of Israel, Netanyahu personally handed Gallant a one-page letter that read “your tenure will end 48 hours from the receipt of this letter.” Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz. Minister without Portfolio Gideon Sa’ar will replace Katz as foreign minister.
“Unfortunately, although in the first months of the war there was trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defense minister,” said Netanyahu in a video statement. He said they disagreed on the management of the war, and charged that Gallant made statements and took actions that contradicted cabinet decisions.
Netanyahu also accused Gallant of indirectly aiding Israel’s enemies: “I made many attempts to bridge these gaps, but they kept getting wider,” he said. “They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy—our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it.”
The “crisis of faith” with the defense minister “does not enable the proper continuation of the [military] campaign,” Netanyahu said.
Gallant responded with his own one-liner, saying that “the security of the State of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life’s mission.”
